Ukraine files complaint with International Criminal Court over property seized by Russia in Crimea

Wednesday, December 13, 2017 9:00:36 AM

Ukraine has filed a complaint with the International Criminal Court (ICC) concerning the seizure of property in Crimea by Russia, as announced by prosecutor general of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea Hyunduz Mamedov at a briefing on Tuesday.

According to him, in January 2017 at the request of the member of the Verkhovna Rada Mustafa Dzhemilev, the Crimean Prosecutors office initiated criminal proceedings according to article 438 of the Criminal Code (violation of the rules and conventions of war) relating to the violation of international humanitarian law by the occupation authorities on the peninsula.

In the context of this investigation, in October 2017 Ukraine sent the ICC two information reports of illegal appropriation of the property belonging to state institutions and private businesses in Crimean territory. “According to the norms of international humanitarian law, private property, the property of church communities, charitable, educational and scientific institutions is not subject to confiscation. It is a serious crime, it is a war crime,” he said.

The Prosecutor General of Ukraine, Yuriy Lutsenko pointed out that 4000 Ukrainian enterprises remained in Crimea, with the total loss amounting to 1 trillion hryvnia ($40 million USD). In the context of the investigation, property worth 1.6 billion hryvnia ($60 million USD) has been seized. At the start of 2017, Ukraine filed a lawsuit at the International Court of Justice in the Hague concerning Russia’s violations of the Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism and the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.